Reliability, scalability, faster performance, integrated security, and lower total cost of ownership (TCO) all factor into VirtualBank's decision to migrate to Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Advanced Server.
Customer Profile
VirtualBank is an online financial service company that provides integrated banking services. Founded in 1999 and based in North Palm Beach, Florida, the company has 25 employees. VirtualBank is a subsidiary of First Virtual, Inc.
Once migration is complete, the company will be running Microsoft® Windows® 2000 on 100 servers and 50 workstations. The primary hardware used is from Compaq. VirtualBank is working with Prologic Corporation, a leading independent software vendor in the finance sector.
VirtualBank lets consumers access all their financial accounts online with one easy interface. Server performance is crucial to the 24-7 Internet company. Based on outstanding testing results, VirtualBank is migrating its Web servers to Windows 2000 Advanced Server for its Web site, and will be migrating its back-office servers later this year.
Reliability and Scalability
"The main reason we're shifting to Windows 2000 from Windows NT® is because it's much more reliable and scalable," says Rory Brown, chairman and CEO of VirtualBank. "High availability is of the utmost importance for us. Our experience is that server uptime is much higher. Our testing also shows a marked improvement in stability. We haven't had lockups, failed servers, or rogue drivers—it's just not been an issue."
Server scalability is equally important to a high growth business expecting large user volume. "Our testing shows that the servers scale really well," says Brown. "The flexibility of Windows 2000 to add servers to the network load balancing means we can just snap servers in as needed."
Faster Performance
Just as crucial for a Web-based business is server performance. VirtualBank is running Microsoft Internet Information Services 5.0 with Active Server Pages (ASP), custom COM+ components, and a Microsoft SQL ServerTM version 7.0 database. "It's noticeably faster in terms of how it deals with the COM components," says John Studdard, chief technology officer at VirtualBank. "The interaction between ASP, COM, and COM+ is tighter and more integrated."
Integrated Security Features Make Banking Easier
Naturally, a financial institution depends on its security features. Studdard is excited about the integration of the Kerberos security scheme because it's an Internet standard. "We're also very interested in the IPSec capabilities that will allow us to encrypt conversations on our LAN between our transaction and application servers and our Web servers," Studdard said. "Before it was clunky. Now, our system is much more refined and works seamlessly with Windows 2000."
Lower Total Cost of Ownership Compared to Other Options
Brown stressed that the chief benefit from using Windows 2000 is that the total cost of ownership will be lower. "The platform you choose is a huge decision for any new Internet company," says Brown. "It's our single largest capital outlay. Windows 2000 has the same reliability and scalability as other platforms at half the cost. It made it an easy decision."
"Furthermore, the pool of technology professionals familiar with Microsoft products including Windows 2000 is larger than the same level of expertise in other platforms, making recruiting less costly," says Brown. And the number of back-office financial products being developed using Windows 2000 as a backbone is expanding, which lowers development costs. "Since the scalability and reliability of the Microsoft products have increased, the amount of software being written based on them has increased exponentially."
With advantages like these, it's no wonder VirtualBank has chosen Windows 2000 Advanced Server.
Software and Services
MicrosoftWindows 2000 Advanced Server with Microsoft Internet Information Services 5.0
Microsoft Exchange
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Site Server
Microsoft SQL ServerTM
